My senior year in high school was a great one. Classmates and I were the big cheese and we had two final semesters of regular school to run through. My second semester of senior year was a well planned out easy cruise. I started each day with three academic classes, none of them too challenging, and that was pretty much it! After that I had lunch, P.E., a free period and then my Yearbook staff class. I worked part time at White Castle in Lombard but with my light class load there was plenty of time for hanging with friends, parties and my final year of playing varsity baseball for the York Dukes.
Graduation in mid-June was a major event as over nine hundred senior grads bid farewell to high school and hello to the rest of our lives. The day of the commencement, my family had a nice luncheon party for me at Elmhurst’s Café Parisen. After the ceremony we opened gifts and had cake at our house. Then I went out to party with my fellow grads. It was a night of drunken (but safe) revelry. Oh wait, at one party that night, the police came to break things up and some girl got sprayed with mace. But other than that, all was cool as can be. My summer was spent playing American Legion baseball for the Elmhurst team, more work at White Castle and lots of fun nights with my friends, many of whom were going away to college while I was set to start my higher education with classes at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.
I bring up this memory because the high school senior class of 2020 as we all know, has been compromised in every way possible. I feel so bad for these kids because they get none of what I and every graduating senior before this year have enjoyed for decades.
Think of all they’re missing since the shutdowns and quarantines began in mid-March. Late winter and all spring sports cancelled, no spring plays, no musicals, no final band concerts, no honors society banquets or breakfasts, last field trips off, proms were called off, ditto for senior ditch day, the weekend parties when someone’s parents are away couldn’t happen, commencement ceremonies and backyard graduation parties with family and friends were deep sixed. There’s also the idea that they were in their last days with classmates, many of whom they might never see again or at least until there’s a ten year reunion. This is not to mention the athletes aiming for college scholarships and those working towards academic honors, scholarships and admissions into college.
I’ll be honest. If I were a high school senior and was missing all these special final things, I’d consider tanking my remote learning assignments and failing the semester. This way maybe I could come back next school year and take part all in the rituals and special events I missed out on.
But these seniors aren’t going to do that, they’ve opted to endure. Most are completing their required classes online. Some are taking part in Zoom prom parties, online commencement events, having signs noting their graduation put in their yards and other gestures of acknowledgement that they are about to end their high school careers. Here in Elmhurst, trees in front yards of seniors are wrapped in green ribbons for seniors at York and blue ribbons for seniors attending Immaculate Conception High School. There have been parades of cars rolling by the homes of grads, the cars & vans plastered with signs, balloons and the honking of horns. My neighborhood has seen at least a dozen of these processions.
I greatly admire the whole nation of American high school seniors. Oh I’m sure behind closed doors there’s been tears, tantrums and angst over this crappy deal, it’s understandable. Still, for the most part on TV news reports and online stories, I’ve seen and heard hundreds of examples of good humor and the attitude of “We’ll make the best of this unforeseen situation.”
I also feel similar hurt for those graduating from college and how their final weeks in school should be celebrated and honored in ways that can’t be done at this time. This isn’t how crowning achievements should end. Looking ahead, I hope there can be some semblance of normalcy so next year’s class of 2021 doesn’t have to face the same disruptions. But if that DOES happen, they can learn from the patience, accepting nature and resilience of the class of 2020.
Happy graduation to all!
NEXT BLOG- Things I’ve been watching and listening at home.